first-light for uranus

[asimov (John)]

Last night...(actually early this morning) I decided to give locating uranus a serious nudge. I've never seen it before...but then again I've never been overly serious about finding it.

I printed a couple of star charts out kindly up-loaded by Kearn the other night, giving the location of uranus. Went outside with the maps & tried to work out where it was, naked eye first. The conditions were terrible, a stiff breeze blowing, but no cloud at least. Set the 6" achro up after much debate with myself weather to bother or not cos' of the wind. The 'hunting' instinct had kicked in by now LOL.

I pointed in the direction I assumed was right according to the charts.
After an hour or so of 'star-hopping' I came to the conclusion I was dead wrong about the location, or I didn't know what to look for/expect, seeing I've never seen it before....No idea if I could resolve into a disk with a 6" & a 15mm EP...

Came back inside determined to find the damn thing! Printed out some other maps from a program on my puter. My wife eventually asked what was going on & after explaining the situation, she grabbed the maps & headed outside as well! So we were both out there, saying stuff like...." THATS where I think it is!! pointing at a little star..he-he-he! After another hour or so of this, we retired back inside to study those maps AGAIN totally frustrated by now.

I ended up getting into my puter program "Celestia' & after studying the area around uranus intensely & setting up 'pointer' stars etc. in my minds eye, headed back out.

Cutting to the chase....WE EVENTUALLY FOUND IT!! And not where we thought it was either! LOL. It was a definate disk, not a star...light blue/grey in colour. Trying higher powers just turned the view from a tiny blue fuzzy ball to a bigger blue fuzzy ball. But it WAS uranus & we found it WOOO-HOOO!! Next stop...NEPTUNE!!

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Ahhh the thrill of the hunt. Congratulation John and spouse. If you hurry (maybe no more than a day or two left I think) you could try for all nine planets. Don't know if you'll find pluto in a 6" refractor though

[ving (David)]

on ya john. I have hunted down this beastie too. it not easy is it?

[asimov (John)]

How did you go with getting neptune Ving? Or should'nt I ask, LOL

Paul, Yeah, Kearn threw down the gauntlet for getting the 9 planet badge LOL...I dont think I'm going to be able to pull it off though. We've got a big front headed our way. Not to mention the fact neptune is going to be harder to find than uranus (I think)

Pluto.... forget it! LOL Although I have the big reflector to fall back on if I REALLY want to find it!

[fringe_dweller]

Congrats John (and partner )! Sounds like you guys had fun - next time it should be much easier to find now you know what your looking for. I do love a good happy hunting story! Mate you should have a look in the 12.5 now you know where to look - it should be a little bit more impressive even i reckon. I am waiting for that report on neptune, next time the weather allows
Cheers
Kearn

[asimov (John)]

Hi Kearn & thanks! Thought you must have got abducted by aliens or something mate! LOL We'll see what tonite brings as far as neptunes concerned...{does not look promising though}

[Mick (Michael)]

On Ya John, you don't give up do you. Hunting them down is half the fun.

[asimov (John)]

Yes indeed Mick! The majority of the fun is finding them. I could have just used the setting circles on the mount but that would be too easy! LOL I would have preffered to find them without a star chart as well, but I wanna find them before I reach the age of 70 lol

[Starkler (Geoff)]

Neptune is about half the apparent size of Uranus when viewed. It needs fairly high power and reasonable seeing to make it out as a disc.

[asimov (John)]

In my way of thinking, that makes it twice as hard to find...double the challenge...probably 3 times as much frustration...4 times the amount of pleasure & sense of achievement when & if we DO find it!

[toetoe (Peter)]

Onya John, it`s even better when it is a team effort.